Florida News

Florida Report Card on School Breakfast: Progress with
Room for Improvement

Posted January 18, 2013 11:45 am | Public News
Service

By Stephanie Carroll Carson

TALLAHASSEE, FL - Educators and physicians alike have
talked for years about how children learn better when
properly nourished.

A new report takes a look inside schools to see how
school breakfast programs are serving low-income
students. The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC)
releases the School Breakfast Scorecard each year.

Debra Susie is the executive director for Florida
Impact, part of the Florida Partnership to End Childhood
Hunger. She says schools with the most success at
providing breakfast to students are thinking outside of
the cafeteria.

"There are ways that we can do that creatively and
effectively, and they have to do with looking at
breakfast relative to alternative venues or at
alternative times."

Some schools are offering breakfast as students get
off the bus, or after first period when more students
might be interested in eating.

In Florida, all public elementary schools are required
to implement a school breakfast program. In schools
where 80 percent or more students receive free or
reduced meals, all students are required to receive free
meals to eliminate any kind of stigma attached to
needing assistance.

Crystal FitzSimons, director of school and out-of-school
time programs for the Food Research and Action Center,
says schools benefit by getting more eligible students
involved.

"One of the best ways to run a more cost-effective
program is actually to increase participation, because
then schools are able to benefit from the economies of
scale that that creates."

Nationally, there are 10.5 million low-income children
participating in the School Breakfast Program every day.
Studies have shown students who are not hungry at school
test better in math and reading skills.